Bigamy, << BIHG uh mee, >> is the crime a man or woman commits by being married to two people at the same time. If a man deliberately takes a second wife when his first wife is neither dead nor legally divorced, he is guilty of bigamy (see Divorce ). A woman taking a second husband under the same circumstances is equally guilty. Bigamous marriages have no legal force.
A person may believe the first spouse dead, and remarry without deliberate intent of bigamy. If the first spouse reappears, proof must be offered that there was a false report of death or that there has been no knowledge of the first spouse’s existence for a specified period, usually from five to seven years. When this proof is accepted, the law in most states does not consider such a remarriage bigamous. In some states, the remarried person may choose between the two spouses. In others, the second marriage must be annulled.
In the United States, the punishment for bigamy is usually a term of imprisonment. Length of imprisonment may vary from two to five years, and imprisonment is sometimes accompanied by a fine. The penalty in England was reduced in the time of George I to a minimum of two years’ imprisonment with hard labor. Before that time, bigamy in England was a crime punishable by death. In America, the death penalty for bigamy lasted through colonial days.
